U.S. credit unions and banks are feeling better about managing their risk and regulatory compliance obligations than they did last year.

That’s according to a recent survey from Wolters Kluwer’s Compliance Solutions that was conducted nationwide between Aug. 22 and Sept. 12 of this year and generated 582 responses.

The survey calculated a main indicator score based on several factors including the number of new federal regulations, number of enforcement actions, total dollar amount of fines imposed on banks and credit unions over the past year, as well as additional information provided by survey respondents

The survey showed a main indicator score of 85, representing an 18 percent decrease from the 2017 score. Still, the score shows that financial institutions still have continued anxiety on certain risk and regulatory issues that demand close attention.

Despite Congress’ recent passage of legislation to roll back aspects of the Dodd-Frank regulations, 62 percent of respondents indicated they “do not anticipate a likely reduction” in regulatory burden in the coming two years.

“While we see a reduction in the main indicator score, more than 60 percent of respondents continue to rate their compliance concerns as a 7 or higher on a 10-point scale,” Timothy R. Burniston, senior advisor for regulatory strategy at Wolters Kluwer Compliance Solutions, said in a statement. “It is notable that risk management concerns also remain fairly high, and there is palpable apprehension about several top issues including cybersecurity, IT risk and credit risk that respondents indicated will receive escalated priority and investment in the coming 12 months.”

Burniston attributed the lower overall score to notable drops in regulations, enforcement actions and fines, particularly the number of new federal regulations issued during the 2018 survey period compared to the prior year.

“The reductions in these environmental factors influenced the final score considerably,” he said. “But persistently high levels of concern shown in six years of conducting this survey reinforces the recognition that compliance with rules and regulations is still very much part of an ever-evolving risk management landscape that continues to challenge institutions.”

Over the next 12 months, a large majority of surveyed institutions said they are most likely to make “moderate to high” investments in updating policies and procedures, strengthening risk assessment and controls and training their staff, board of directors and senior management.

The survey also found that financial institutions were concerned about:

• Complying with the looming CECL impairment standard was identified as the top issue (73 percent)
• Capturing additional data fields for HMDA rules (62 percent)
• Fair lending (61 percent)
• Unfair, deceptive or abusive acts and practices (60 percent)
• State-issued regulatory requirements (58 percent)